01 November 2011

Puddinghead

...this is a beautifully made example of protective headwear worn by
children in the early 19th century. Pudding caps or bumpers were padded
hats commonly worn by small children learning to walk to protect their
heads from any falls. It was thought that if children fell too
frequently unprotected their brains would turn to a soft pudding-like
consistency, hence the name "pudding cap." Children were often referred
to as "little pudding heads" because of this belief.

Finally I understand the reason for the name of Mark Twain's character "Puddn'head Wilson" (perhaps the term was explained in the book - I don't know).

"Pudding" in England derives from small sausages, and even today the term applies to a wide range of foods, not just the creamy desserts that Americans refer to.

The entry at Victoria & Albert shows a pudding cap [~1775-1800] and describes the hat's name thus; "The nickname of ‘pudding’ comes from the padded roll’s similarity of shape and size to the type of sausage called ‘pudding’, a popular food still eaten today."

I think it's more likely that the idea of soft brains is a later Americanism and it's probably more of a humorous tongue-in-cheek use than a literal belief.

That makes complete sense to me.

And, for completeness, here's the relevant quote from the first chapter of Twain's book:

"Yes, sir, he's a dam fool. That's the way I put him up," said No. 5. "Anybody can think different that wants to, but those are my
sentiments."

"I'm with you, gentlemen," said No. 6.
"Perfect jackass -- yes, and it ain't going too far to say he is a pudd'nhead. If he ain't a pudd'nhead, I ain't no judge, that's all."

Mr. Wilson stood elected. The incident was told all over the town, and gravely discussed by everybody. Within a week he had lost his first name; Pudd'nhead took its place. In time he came to be liked, and well liked too; but by that time the nickname had got well stuck on, and it stayed. That first day's verdict made him a fool, and he was not able to get it set aside, or even modified. The nickname soon ceased to carry any harsh or unfriendly feeling with it, but it held its place, and was to continue to hold its place for twenty long years.

Obviously, by Twain's time (1893 for this book), in the U.S. the term was being used to refer to brain damage.

9 comments:

There seems to be some dispute about the meaning of "pudding". I think it's unlikely that it refers to brains becoming like "pudding" since that's an American spin on the word. "Pudding" in England derives from small sausages, and even today the term applies to a wide range of foods, not just the creamy desserts that Americans refer to.

This entry at Victoria & Albert shows a pudding cap and describes the hat's name thus; "The nickname of ‘pudding’ comes from the padded roll’s similarity of shape and size to the type of sausage called ‘pudding’, a popular food still eaten today."

collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O38483/pudding-safety-hat/

I think it's more likely that the idea of soft brains is a later Americanism and it's probably more of a humorous tongue-in-cheek use than a literal belief. There are plenty of toddler padded hats and helmets made and used today.

The origin of 'pudding' is the french 'boudin', a sausage commonly eaten cold.In Britain, you'll commonly find "black-pudding", which is a dark sausage made with pig's blood. I saw 'Boudin noir' on the menu in Louisiana recently, I'd guess it's much the same thing, the french like boudin blanc.

Boudin is boiled to make it. Sweet puddings were made the same way, often boiled or steamed in muslin bags, looking very similar to the meat puddings. British christmas pudding is traditionally boiled the same way.As is Steak and Kidney pudding. Steak and kidney pudding consists of an outer suet-dumpling casing, filled with a steak and kidney stew.when you dip a fork into the pudding, it breaks through the pale crust into the soft stew below. Colloquially known as "babys heads".

Ah, just a couple of weeks ago I had a nice breakfast with black & white pudding (yum!) down the street at the Irish butcher's restaurant but I never would've made the connection to puddinghead without this post. Thank you for adding to my own puddinghead's compendium of useless* information.

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